Russia remains one of the primary sources of privatisation deals. But governments with a recent history of hardline communism make it difficult for bankers to predict when the next deal will land.

One banker, who declined to be named, said: “The deals are obviously much more politically driven, and subject to the vagaries of the politicians. You definitely go in with idea that none of the deals are going to be easy.”

Last week, the Russian government reassured the market that it would continue its privatisation plans first announced in 2010.

But last week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Bank of Russia said it was not entirely comfortable with state-owned bank Sberbank’s $5.7bn rights issue and was holding out for a higher price.

This hesitation comes after the initial offering, planned for September, was postponed due to weak equity markets.

Other ministers are also pushing and pulling over whether to take core assets to the market.

Vladimir Kolychev, chief economist and head of research at Rosbank, part of Societe Generale said: “[Last week] you saw the Economics Ministry say that the major oil companies should be privatised.

This was a response to earlier claims by Igor Sechin [Russia’s deputy prime minister] that the equity offerings from Rosneft and Russneft should be postponed.”

Rising oil prices pose another potential hiccup for bankers. Russia’s balance sheet relies heavily on oil prices, and since November 1, crude oil has increased 20% from $83 per barrel to hover around $99 last week.

Russia’s elections are set for March. Kolychev said: “I doubt markets will improve before March, but if they do reschedule the privatisation programme, it will be very poorly interpreted by the markets.”